The music industry in Canada has grown at a very high rate, with both men and women artists becoming very popular. Issues of race face the industry, such as when artists of African American descent could not win the Juno Rewards. For a long time, popular female artists have not been taken seriously as far as their performance in the music industry is concerned. Although Canada has had female music artists for a long time, nonetheless, many individuals did not associate women with music. Most of the music fans in Canada are more familiar with male artists because they have been used to attending their performances. When a female artist performed and won a reward in presence of other male artists, the female and the referees that announced the artist a winner would receive criticism. The fight against gender discrimination has been very strong and has yielded some better results where women artists have as many fans as men artists. The emergence of such popular artists as Celine Dion, Avril Lavinge, Sarah Mclachlan, Shania Twain, and K. D. Lang, amongst others, has led to the promotion of women in the music industry. Today, any artist, both male, and female can win any award without attracting much criticism. There was a belief that women could not produce certain types of music such as hip-hop. The first woman to participate in hip hop was seen as a joker as this was not recognized as a type of their music. This paper will seek to analyze women musicians and the way the perception of this bender in the music industry in Canada.
The Juno Rewards
In the organization of the Juno Rewards, the Talent Committee that used to select the performers was faced with difficulties when choosing those artists to perform in the occasion. In addition to choosing the talent of the artist, they had to look at the popularity of the artist because drawing the intention of many viewers was one of the objectives of these rewards. Selecting a female artist when most of the fans supported men performers could have been of no interest to the viewers. The viewers had to be satisfied with the show and this made it very impossible for the Talent Committee to select a female artist. This system not only blocked women from performing but also had adverse effects on the African Americans who were artists in Canada (Ira 1990). These were even hated by the fans in addition to being unpopular. Promotion of young and new artists in the ceremony became quite difficult as this would reduce the number of viewers on part of the Talent Committee. The media including the radio and the television also played those songs from artists that will attract many listeners (The Canadian Journal of Sociology 2006). This also contributed to the unpopularity of women musicians in Canada. An individual likes music from an artist as a matter of listening to his or her music severally. It is a rare case for an individual to listen to an artist once and like him or her this very first time. The failure by the media to play songs by women just because the women had not many fans like the male artists was quite unfair on the side of women. The denial of equal chances on part of the women has also affected the performance of some of them since they cannot rely on Canada for their sales. Most of their sales take place outside Canada which greatly affects their finances. Again, when customers to an artist are outside the country, chances of piracy of their music are quite high. The rise in technology is enhancing the piracy of music especially if the artist is not close to observe the trends. Generally, the women artists in Canada have been disadvantaged by the citizens and this affects the way that they perform. As a result, even the citizens do not take female artists seriously.
Canadian Women Artists outside Canada
Most of the women artists in Canada have performed poorly as a result of the discrimination in Canada. These artists are taken very seriously in other countries. In a country like the United States, artists like Avril Lavinge and Shania Twain are taken very seriously. If they are invited to perform in these other countries, the citizens in these other countries take them very seriously and the hall is very full as they perform. In comparison to Canada, the halls would be almost empty when they perform and the charges would be very low compared to the charges if a man was performing. The case is very different outside Canada where some women artists are taken seriously than the men artists as long as they produce quality music (Mela 1998). These other countries take an artist depending on the quality of music that the individual produces. Artists with quality music are taken seriously regardless of their gender. Some male artists in Canada are not taken as seriously as female artists outside the country. Their performance will not attract as many fans as some of the female artists would. This is an indication that there is a problem in Canada where the popular female artists are not taken as seriously as male artists.
Recording Companies
Another reason why women have not been taken seriously in Canada is the production done by the recording companies. An artist will be taken seriously if his or her recordings are readily available especially in the shops. In the early days, the recording companies and the sellers concentrated more on the music by male artists because this music would sell more than that by the females. When one proceeds to a shop and cannot trace a video cassette or compact disk by a female artist, there is no way you expect this individual to take the female artists seriously. The little attention that the recording companies made major contributions to the way that the female artists were taken in Canada because failure to produce disks by popular female artists means that even those individuals who could have become fans to these popular musicians did not have the opportunity (Richard and Will 1999). This was quite unfair for the female artists since the destiny of their music was in the hands of the producers. The producers could have produced the music by these popular female artists but the shopkeepers who are interested in profits could have failed to buy them since they would view it as a way of keeping money dormant in the shop.
Early Means of Recording
Before the invention of the compact disks and the digital video players, the available means of a recording made it very difficult for an artist to gain popularity since viewing the individual’s music was quite difficult (Jody 2000). The popular female artists did not perform in the music awards ceremonies and the music cassettes did not provide a means by which the individuals could view new artists. Listening to music alone may not be necessary to make an individual take an artist seriously. Some individuals view an artist for the first time and they fall in love with their songs this very first time. Lack of a means to make the performance by the popular female artists to be viewed contributed to the way they were taken. They were not taken seriously by many.
Cultural Identity
In Canada, the females were in the early days viewed as minors and most of their achievements could therefore not be taken seriously (Rinaldo 1989). Those artists who had joined Canada from other countries were not viewed as Canadians and their music was not taken seriously. Also, those who did not perform music that did not originate from Canada were never taken seriously. Women were the most disadvantaged because if one was from a different culture, it would add to the other disadvantages making it very hard for her even to be known. However, the efforts by many and cultural diversity have brought some changes today where any artists can participate in any award-winning ceremonies and they are winning and have begun being taken seriously (Mela 1998). The issue of female discrimination in Canada does not only affect the musicians themselves but also the individuals who play instrumentals in the country. The females are allowed to play certain instrumentals which are minor in the production of the songs. This makes them be viewed as minors even in the production of the songs. Those who are talented in fields meant for men do not use their talents properly because the opportunities are limited and they would be viewed negatively. However, some females have taken it upon themselves to show that the females can play any instrument where the artists sing and play the instrumentals themselves.
Popular women musicians have not been taken seriously in Canada like their fellow male counterparts. It was very hard for a female artist to perform in the Juno Rewards in the early days. Failure for them to be seen in such major performances made people not take them seriously. The recording companies also avoided music by female artists since the sales for female artists were low. The early means of recording did not provide a way that the artists could be viewed and this made it difficult for the female artists to be known since they did not perform where male artists were performing. The culture in Canada also made the female artists not be taken seriously because women were viewed as minors in the country. The performance of these artists outside Canada is taken very seriously and these artists have many fans in other countries than in Canada. Their music sells much more in other countries than outside Canada. However, some improvements have been made where some popular artists like Avril Lavinge are now being taken very seriously.
Work Cited
Ira Wagman, Rock the Nation: Much Music, Cultural Policy, and the Development of the English Canadian Music Video Programming, 1979-1984. McGill University, 1990.
Jody Berland, Locating Listening: Technological Space, popular Music, and Canadian Mediations, 2000.
Mela Sarkar. The Transformative Power of Language Mixing in Quebec Hip Hop, 1998.
Richard Sutherland and Will Straw. The Canadian Music Industry at Crossroads, 1999.
Rinaldo Walcott. Caribbean Pop Culture in Canada; or, the Impossibility of Belonging to the Nation, 1989.
The Canadian Journal of Sociology. Ethno-Racial Minorities and the Juno Rewards. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 2006.